Instant Pot Chocolate Lava Cakes For Two


Author: Lisa Childs

Comments: 18

Category: Dessert Recipes

Published Date: February 3, 2019

Updated Date: January 12, 2023

Jump To Recipe

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission if you purchase something I recommend - at no additional cost to you! Thank you for supporting this blog!

Instant Pot Chocolate Lava cakes are decadent, rich, and EASY to make! This is a perfect simple dessert for any celebration (or Wednesday night)!

Instant Pot Chocolate Lava Cakes for two are so simple and delicious for valentines day or dat

About 3 years ago, chocolate lava cakes were reallllly popular in the Instant Pot Facebook Community. Unfortunately, most of the recipes made 4-6 cakes and had me using 2 sticks of butter and separating eggs.

Since lava cakes aren’t really good reheated, I set out to make chocolate lava cake for one or two people. I wanted to use whole eggs, and make it easy enough to enjoy as a weeknight indulgence after the kids go to bed.

Instant Pot Chocolate Lava Cakes for Two are a Perfect Valentine's Day Dessert

This recipe is really flexible and adaptable. You may use any kind of chocolate chip you want for a different flavor. How about a white chocolate lava cake? Or a peanut butter one? I saw Andes Mint Chips the other day that would be SO good in this!

How to make Chocolate Lava Cakes in the Instant Pot

All you need for your lava cakes are chocolate chips, butter, powdered sugar, flour, cocoa powder, eggs, and vanilla.

I bet you have these ingredients in your pantry right now! You can even omit the cocoa powder and use all flour. Like I said, you can even melt whatever kind of chocolate chip you want.

Instant Pot chocolate lava cakes for two are a perfect Valentine's day dessert

First, melt the chocolate and butter together in the microwave. Use 15-30 second intervals to avoid scorching the chocolate.

Then, mix in the eggs, sugar, flour, cocoa powder, and vanilla. Divide the batter between two greased ramekins and you’re ready to cook them!

Add a cup of water to the Instant Pot, along with the trivet (or a silicone pressure cooking sling, if you have one).

After that, place your lava cakes in the Instant Pot and cook for 7-9 minutes on manual high pressure (depends on how big your ramekins are and how much lava you want!)

You don’t need to cover your ramekins with foil. After doing a quick release, you may find some residual moisture on the top of the cake. You can simply dab it off with a paper towel.

Instant Pot Chocolate Lava Cake with Strawberries

Carefully remove them from the pot with tongs, and flip them upside down on a plate. Serve with ice cream or powdered sugar! This is a suuuuper rich cake, so you’ll need some milk too!

How to customize chocolate lava cakes

This is really fun, because you can add all sorts of things in. the middle of your lava cakes! Here’s a list of ideas of yummy add-ins to your lava cake:

Lisa Childs with Nicea DeGering at Good Things Utah
  • 1-2 Tablespoons Nutella
  • 1-2 Tablespoons Peanut Butter, Almond Butter, Cashew butter, etc.
  • Jam
  • A whole raspberry
  • 1-2 Tablespoons of leftover Creme Brulee. (I’ve tried this and it is SO GOOD)
  • Pastry Cream
  • Marshmallow Fluff
  • A Reese’s, Snickers, Rolo, Milky Way, or Almond Joy Candy Bar
  • A Ferrero Roche ball

What if I don’t have ramekins?

My love for ramekins runs deep. I even recommended them on TV as one of my favorite Instant Pot accessories! You can read about some more of my favorite Instant Pot accessories in this post.

Best Instant Pot Accessories to Buy and Avoid!!

I use the ramekins for my Instant Pot White Chocolate Candy Cane Creme Brulee and my Instant Pot Bread Pudding recipes.

I love ramekins because you can use them for Instant Pot cooking, as well as general kitchen use. This isn’t necessarily the case with all accessories that only have one purpose.

White Glass Ramekins

They are really classy, beautiful, and useful! If you don’t have ramekins, no worries! Any ovenproof dish will work; I’ve had success using small Pyrex dishes before too!

As seen on Good Things Utah

Lisa Childs at Good Things Utah with all the hosts!

Good Things Utah asked me to come showcase this recipe on their show this morning, and it was so fun! All the hosts and the crew were so kind and lovely.

Plus, the SET! Wow, their set is gorgeous. Thank you for having me, GTU! I hope I’ll see you soon! Here’s a link to the segment! You can watch my other TV segments on my TV page!

Instant Pot Dessert Recipes

End a yummy meal (or start one!) with a delicious Instant Pot Dessert.

Don’t forget to pin this post!

Instant Pot Chocolate Lava cakes for two! These single serve desserts are so fun and easy, just like a mug cake! This makes enough for two servings. Super chocolatey dessert great for a weeknight or special occasion. #chocolate #dessert #chocolatecake | Tried Tested and True Instant Pot Cooking by Lisa Childs

Chocolate Lava Cake with Strawberries

Instant Pot Chocolate Lava Cakes For Two

Chocolate lava cakes for two. I guarantee you have everything you need to make these tonight!
5 from 4 votes
Print Pin Rate
Prep Time: 3 minutes
Cook Time: 7 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 2
Author: Lisa Childs

INGREDIENTS

  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips (any kind!)
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

INSTRUCTIONS

  • In a heatproof bowl, combine chocolate chips and butter. Microwave in 10-15 second intervals until completely melted. 
  • Add powdered sugar and combine until smooth. 
  • Add two eggs, and beat until completely combined. 
  • Add vanilla, flour, and cocoa powder. 
  • Divide the batter between two greased ramekins. I added a Reese’s peanut butter cup in the middle of the large ramekin for my husband.
  • Place the trivet in the Instant Pot, along with 1 cup of water. Carefully place your ramekins on the trivet. Put the lid on the pot, and set on manual high pressure for 7-10 minutes, depending on how much “lava” you like.
  • When the 7-10 minutes are up, do a quick pressure release. Take the ramekins out of the pot with a pair of tongs and turn over onto a plate. 
  • If there is too much liquid on top, you can dab it off with a paper towel. If it’s still too much lava in the middle, just microwave it for 15 seconds or until it is the doneness you prefer. Don’t try pressure cooking it again. Serve with ice cream, chocolate syrup, strawberries, and a kiss!

VIDEO

NOTES

  • If you use a kind of chocolate chip that has a lot of oil in it, it will require more time to cook. If you use one with less, it will take less. For example, peanut butter chips have lots of oil in them and dark chocolate has less.

NUTRITION

Serving: 1grams
Tried this recipe?Mention @triedtestedandtrue!


Leave a Reply

Recipe Rating




  1. Is this recipe the same for the instant pot Max. I am having a difficult time finding recipes for the Max. Do you have any resources for the Max?

    1. Post
      Author

      Hi Kathy! I don’t have a Max, but all Instant Pots use the same pressure concept to cook, so it should work! Let me know if you try it! Thanks for stopping by! – Lisa

  2. 5 stars
    This is one of my favorite desserts! I used silicon cupcake liners and it worked really well. I just decreased the time to 4 minutes. Thanks for the awesome recipe!

  3. 5 stars
    This is one of my favorite desserts! I used silicon cupcake liners and it worked really well. I just decreased the time to 4 minutes. Thanks for the awesome recipe!

    1. Post
      Author
  4. What if you wanted to make 4 instead of two My teenagers would love this. Do you just double ingredients and how about time adjustment?

    1. Post
      Author
  5. I made these tonight. I needed to make 4 so I doubled the recipe. I ended up with 6. I’m not sure but I think I bought smaller ramekins. So they were still delicious but not really any lava. Still very very good.

    1. Post
      Author

      Hi Kathy! Thanks for trying them! This recipe is meant for 2 ramekins, so if you were dividing them into more servings, you’ll have to adjust the cooking time by a couple of minutes less to account for the smaller amount in each serving. Thanks for trying them! – Lisa

    1. Post
      Author
  6. Post
    Author
  7. Made these tonight but I didn’t have cocoa so I used drinking chocolate powder, omitted the vanilla essence and added a centre of choc-hazelnut spread. Put them on for 8 mins, mine broke when serving so I popped His in the microwave for 10 seconds and it served beautifully!! Thanks so much Lisa!

  8. Hi Lisa I’m new at instant pot cooking I have a 8 qt pot do I put in 1 or 2cups water thought an 8 qt pot had to have always 2cups liquid in it. I am making this lava cake thank you Beverly.

    1. Post
      Author
  9. These are am-A-zing!! My 11 yr old and I made these tonight. We did 4 all chocolate lava cakes. Everyone loved them! I must have had them in a little too long since they didn’t have a gooey center. But that’s ok! They still tasted so good. We will definitely make these again. Thanks for this delicious recipe!

    1. Post
      Author
Image

Hi! I'm Lisa!


I founded Tried, Tested, and True in 2019 to help moms like me develop confidence and joy in the kitchen.

Since then, I have taught millions of home cooks around the world through our tried and true recipes and Youtube tutorials.

In 2021, I wrote my first book called, “I Love My Instant Pot: Cooking for One”!

Read My Full Story
Learn More About My Cookbook
ImageImageImageTikTok BlueYouTube Blue